The Adventures of Pigeon - Classic Children's Book - Two-Masted Ship

Author: Elin Pelin (Bulgaria)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: Many years ago, at a national conference in Yantai, Shandong, I proposed a view: Children's literature writers are the shapers of future national character. In recent years, I revised this concept and made a new definition: The mission of children's literature lies in providing humanity with a solid foundation of good character. I now prefer this statement because it is broader and more aligned with the spiritual world of children's literature. In other words, the purpose of children's literature is to lay a "spiritual foundation" for people. This series, "Classic Children's Books from the Double-Masted Ship," selects classic works of world children's literature, which are undoubtedly a spiritual feast for young people. These books are the kind I mentioned that can provide humanity with a solid foundation of good character. These books are books within books. I once called such books "King Books." Now, let's first discuss the basic aspects of this so-called solid foundation of good character—moral sense.
Literature was chosen by humanity as a spiritual form precisely because it was discovered to be beneficial in transforming and purifying human nature. From its inception to the present day, literature has played an immeasurable role in shaping and refining human nature. In the spiritual world of modern humanity, many beautiful and luminous elements come from literature. In the wonderful qualities of human beings today, we can discern the traces left by literature with just a little reflection. Without literature, there would be no world as it is today, no humanity as we know it. Without literature, humanity would still be lost in vastness and dimness, still troubled by ignorance, still living in a purely animalistic existence devoid of emotion and taste. Literature must have moral sense, and children's literature must have it even more. It must be acknowledged that inherent human nature is far from being so lovely and beautiful. In fact, it may be the opposite. Human nature contains a significant amount of evil. These elements hinder humanity's progress toward higher levels of civilization. To maintain the existence and development of humanity, the elite have realized that morality must be upheld in human society. The emergence of this concept made it possible for humanity to advance toward civilization. Over the centuries, the meaning of morality has evolved and changed, but it has gradually settled into some fundamental and constant elements: selflessness, integrity, compassion for the weak, helping those in need, opposing tyranny, resisting bullying, pursuing equality, yearning for freedom, respecting individuality, and nurturing benevolence. These moral principles, along with other spiritual forms (such as philosophy and ethics), effectively restrain the evils of human nature and continuously improve it.
Taste. Literature seems to have more power than any other spiritual form in helping humanity cultivate taste. "The waves rise gently, white birds descend leisurely." "Sparse shadows slant across the clear water, faint fragrance floats as the evening moon fades." "The orioles also love the coolness of the new season, singing through the shadows of green mountains." With concise words, literature can instantly inject the elements of taste into a person's blood and soul. Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Tagore, Hemingway, Turgenev, Lu Xun, Shen Congwen, and Kawabata Yasunari—each generation of outstanding literary figures, with their noble and refined words, has transformed our lives into lives of taste. They have turned lifeless existence and mediocre phenomena into things of aesthetic appreciation. Taste has changed human nature, elevating it in quality. And the cultivation of taste should begin in childhood. Taste belongs to the realm of aesthetics. My view has always been consistent: in my consciousness, there is something very important—I believe the power of beauty, the power of beauty, is no less than the power of thought. Even the deepest thought can become commonplace, but only one thing never ages—beauty. However, in the current context of China, there is a very strange phenomenon: "beauty" has become an overly sentimental term. This is extremely strange. No matter how I think about it, I can't understand: what is wrong with people? Why do they avoid and denigrate beauty? What is the mindset behind it? Is it truly that literature has no role or responsibility in elevating the taste and refinement of a nation? Let's leave adult literature alone for now; let it be. But when it comes to children's literature, we must speak out. Without laying this foundation, it is not possible. Without this foundation, human nature will be in very poor shape. The gap in aesthetic education is one of the great failures of Chinese education. This failure has far-reaching consequences. When Cai Yuanpei served as Minister of Education in the Republic of China, he proposed the idea of promoting the five types of education (moral, intellectual, physical, worldview, and aesthetic) at the National Education Conference. Aesthetic education was included among these. However, it sparked fierce debate and was nearly rejected. Later, it was only accepted as a principle for primary and secondary schools, not as a national education policy. Over time, the understanding of aesthetic education became increasingly narrow, until it was finally reduced to being equated with art and music. In Cai Yuanpei's view, the five types of education formed a perfect system for cultivating a high-quality human nature. Moral, intellectual, and physical education formed the lower half, while worldview and aesthetic education formed the upper half. However, this upper half was cut off. China's education system became incomplete.
Emotional Education. Classical literature has always entrusted itself to a core word: moving. Classical literature has spent centuries writing about moving people. But after the rise of modern literature, it no longer does this. Classical literature moves us precisely because of its spirit of compassion and its compassionate sentiment. Human society has rolled forward to this day, gaining much but also losing or damaging much. The loss and damage are particularly evident in various emotions—passion, enthusiasm, compassion—even among children raised in this material and cultural environment (so-called "new humans") have become a source of widespread concern for anthropologists. One reason for this concern is the decline in compassion (they have not yet developed a spirit of compassion). We have seen that today's children seem to have little impulse to engage in such noble behaviors. Various signs indicate that the process of modernization is not perfect. The benefits humanity enjoys today from modernization have come at a great cost. The weakening of emotions is a prominent example. We have asserted that literature lies in providing and creating a solid foundation of good character for the existence of human society. And this "foundation" must necessarily include a crucial element: compassion. If we consider these three aspects—moral sense, taste, and emotional education—the works selected for "Classic Children's Books from the Double-Masted Ship" are ideal models. They strike a balance among the three. This balance is also a balance of the human spirit, the balance of humanity.